Late entrant again … but found this an enjoyable solve when I finally got around to doing it. A number of clever clues with my favourite also being PYTHIAN – but also liked 26, 25 and 11.
Last in was TRABANT which I was not aware.

Often wonder why there is such a low number of commenters on the Prize puzzle.

I don’t have the Observer any longer – it was a real wrench, after buying it ever since I was at University – but there’s so much in the Saturday Guardian that I just wasn’t getting through both of them.

I managed to find the cartoon on the website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2012/may/06/david-cameron-liberal-democrats-cartoon

You’re right – I do tend to indulge myself, particularly in weekend blogs, where it’s usually quieter [even more so today]. I did love Monty Python and it struck me that ‘no longer with us’ was just about the only possible synonym / euphemism for ‘dead’ that didn’t appear in the sketch and, combined with ‘bird’, it was just irresistible.

Pleasant solve, with a little ribaldry to spice it up a bit; the only difficulty (such as it was) being the vocabulary.

My favourite was also PYTHIAN: nice word and the misdirection of ’1A’ was amusing.

I remember, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall (while I was living in Scotland), seeing an old (presumably Ossi) couple chugging slowly up the incline on the northernmost stretch of the M9 in a Trabi – emitting copious amounts of smoke. They probably drove it into a loch and then had a wee dram to celebrate.

Thanks Eileen for a good blog with lots of links. I see you’ve referred to the Dead Parrot sketch again – it must be one of your favourites.

I well remember the TRABANTs on visiting East Germany when the wall was still intact. Certainly a different world.

I particularly enjoyed PYTHIAN and GREENWICH.